Demolition on US-24 bridge underway

Demolition of the N.W. US-24 highway bridge began Sunday and will continue through Wednesdays daylight hours.

Crews at the US-24 and N.W. Topeka Boulevard exchange started the demolition project by working on taking out the approach pavement near the bridge Sunday. By Monday afternoon, workers were using multiple excavators and a convoy of dump trucks to pull up about 500 feet of concrete on either side of the bridge. The construction site was loud and dusty with all of the large equipment, concrete dust and passing traffic.

Workers also had started to form a dirt bed underneath the bridge to act as a cushion for concrete falling from overhead. The crews will be working on the demolition from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day until the bridge is demolished.

This demolition starts the second phase of the overall project for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

As with any change or phase change there is a lot of new work to be done, said KDOT spokeswoman Kimberly Qualls. We look at traffic changes and work with the city on a variety of things to make sure we have the best possible solution for the situation. Each change has a different set of circumstances, and despite planning, you cant always anticipate what drivers will do.

Rather than using implosions to take down the bridge, KDOT will be demolishing the bridge by using excavators with jackhammer attachments.

Although it is typical for bridges to be demolished via implosions, Qualls said Monday that implosions werent a viable option in this scenario.

This is a heavily trafficked corridor, and there are a lot of businesses around this exchange, Qualls said. The area is so small and concise, and the bridge is small enough that implosions really werent necessary.

The US-24 and N.W. Topeka exchange opened in 1941 as the first cloverleaf exchange in Kansas at a price of $168,500. Today, the project that calls for the replacement of the bridge, resurfacing the interchange ramps and adding new pavement on either side of the bridge will cost $2.3 million. The contractor for the project is RA Knapp Construction, of Kansas City, Kan.

Both eastbound and westbound traffic on US-24 will be reduced to one lane in each direction on the bypass routes through late September, and the zone will post a 35-mph speed limit and a 14-foot wide lane restriction.

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Demolition on US-24 bridge underway